


secret santa 🌌 3/12

by fredastaire



Series: ⭐ 12 days of tyrus ⭐ [3]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: (chanting) platonic tuffy platonic tuffy platonic tuffy, 12 Days of Tyrus, Fluff Ensues (Kinda), M/M, cyrus doesnt participate but he helps tj, day three secret santa, i rlly love the cyrus + buffy + tj dynamic though ya know, the ghc + the kippen twins + jonah do a little secret santa thing, this is kinda like day one in that cyrus starts forming a crush on tj/realizes he has a crush on tj, this one is a mess but honestly ., tj & cyrus shop for a gift tj needs to give, tj is a drama queen for like the first half of this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 00:53:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17070413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredastaire/pseuds/fredastaire
Summary: TJ needs help getting a Secret Santa gift for a friend; Cyrus is unbiased biased.





	secret santa 🌌 3/12

Cyrus sat on the armrest of a slightly ragged armchair. He had the smallest seat, but also the seat closest to the fireplace, and it was the little victories that counted. He absentmindedly reached his feet towards the heat, trying to warm them up.

"Are you trying to set your feet on fire, Cyrus?" Buffy asked, from the other side of the room, sitting _in_ an actual armchair.

"Just call me fire-rus," he said, and Buffy groaned and shook her head, while Amber, who was sitting on the floor and shaking their Secret Santa name box, let out a short laugh.

Buffy wasn't entirely happy with the Kippen twins taking part in their small Secret Santa thing (moreso because of Amber than TJ), but they probably wouldn't have had enough people for it to be fun if they weren’t there _._ So, they had Buffy, Andi, Jonah, plus the twins. Walker couldn't make it.

Cyrus wasn't actually participating, he just wanted to sit around a fireplace with his friends, _plus_ it was fun to watch everyone suffer trying to buy or make something for someone they barely knew, like Jonah for Buffy, or Buffy for Amber, or Andi for TJ. They had all already gotten Cyrus Hannukah gifts, too, and he’d been working on personalized Christmas presents, so the aspect of him participating was a little bit redundant.

Amber stopped shaking the box. “Alright. I’ll take the first one.” She reached into the tissue box and pulled out a cleanly cut piece of paper. She tilted her head and gave it a slight smile, before passing the box on to Buffy. Buffy’s face scrunched up as she read the name, and she tossed it over to TJ, who was sitting in the armchair that Cyrus was sitting on the armrest of (that was a tongue-twister). TJ pulled a name out, and Cyrus watched as he paled, and then handed the box to Jonah. Jonah shook it quickly, pulled out a name, and passed it on to Andi. She pulled out the last slip of paper, and smiled widely.

“Can I return mine? Is that an option?” TJ asked.

Cyrus, who’d declared himself the un-biased referee, shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

“Will you help me, then?”

“That’s cheating!” Buffy objected, looking at Cyrus.

“I don’t think it works like that,” he said to her, and then turned to TJ. “But, no. _You_ guys have to figure out something, and I get to watch.”

TJ pouted.

“Who did you get, anyway?” Cyrus asked, ignoring his face. By now, the others were starting to talk among themselves, and Andi had gotten up to grab a snack. TJ just groaned again and held the slip of paper out for him to take. He took it and read it.

 _Buffy_.

“That’s not bad. At least you didn’t get someone you don’t know.”

“That’s the thing, though. I don’t want to be a bad friend. And we just became friends.” TJ said, leaning back against the chair and bringing his legs up so that he could criss-cross them.

Cyrus sighed, and glanced at Buffy. “Okay, fine. I’ll help you a _little_ bit.”

TJ grinned, and raised his hands as if he’d won something. “Thank you!”

Cyrus shrugged and smiled.

Buffy whispered, in a disbelieving tone, something that sounded suspiciously like “ _unbiased?_ ”.

* * *

 

Outside the mall, Cyrus was cold. He had stuffed himself into a slightly oversized coat and a Hufflepuff scarf, but the air was still blowing on his face, and making him feel like his nose might fall off. Oh, the things he did for TJ. 

TJ didn’t arrive much later though, _ thankfully _ , and they entered the mall together. It was much warmer in there, and Cyrus unwound the scarf from his mouth, so that he could speak. He left it hanging loosely around his shoulders. 

“Nice scarf.” TJ commented, not wearing a scarf (Cyrus wondered how his face hadn’t frozen over). 

Cyrus nodded his thanks, and then looked around at the stores around them. “Do you have any ideas for what to get her?” 

“What? Oh, no, I’m useless at ideas.” TJ said, pulling his hands out of his pockets.

“Well, you’re going to have to have some, because  _ I’m _ not giving you answers.” 

TJ pouted again, which Cyrus responded to by holding up his hand in TJ’s face. “No, no, it has to be a gift from you, not  _ me _ .”

God, being strict was hard.

TJ finally relented, and walked up to one of those big mall maps. His eyes scanned it quickly. “Does she like Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”

“Yep. I should warn you though, she has three Buffy shirts.” 

“Well then..” TJ’s eyes scanned the map, and Cyrus watched as his eyes lit up and he swung around to face him, excited. “Sports! She needed new shoes the other day.” 

Every time TJ got excited it was like a light had been flicked on in his head and you could  _ see  _ every thought going through his head. That was one of the only times Cyrus could tell TJ was really happy, and he liked seeing it. He felt an odd rush of pride while he grinned and nodded encouragingly. 

“Alright then, footwear shops, here we come.” TJ said, and gestured for Cyrus to follow as he started to walk further into the mall. Another thing about TJ when he was excited that Cyrus noticed was that he talked more than Cyrus did, and it was a nice change to listen to someone babble on about something. 

“Buffy’s going to be so surprised.” TJ grinned. 

“Well, then you’ve succeeded, right?” 

“Yep.” 

When they reached the sporting goods store, TJ walked in confidently. Cyrus kind of strode in after him, staring at random things. He got distracted by a shirt, and had to run to catch up with TJ. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here. Or in a place  _ like _ this.” 

TJ smiled. “That’s pretty on brand for you.”

They were standing in front of rows of shoes, and TJ was knelt down, examining shoes. He looked up at Cyrus, and, in an odd moment, he asked, “Do you know Buffy’s shoe size?” 

Cyrus blinked. Should he have known Buffy’s shoe size? They _ were _ best friends. “No, that’s a little bit weird.” 

TJ stood up, and he looked crushed. “I can’t get her the shoes then,” he mumbled into his hand. 

“Oh, no, don’t say that, TJ. I could text her.” As much as Cyrus liked seeing TJ excited, he disliked seeing him upset. 

“No, no, no, no.” TJ said quickly, waving his hands. “You can’t do that. She’ll  _ know _ . And that ruins it.”

“Then you can get her something else. This store is weirdly big. I didn’t realise there were so many things that you need for sports.” Cyrus said, trying to lift TJ’s mood. 

“But.. the shoes..” TJ’s words trailed off when he looked at Cyrus. 

“Forget about the shoes, okay?” Cyrus said, softly. “Buffy’s your friend. She  _ will  _ like whatever you get her. Trust me, I’ve known her for five years.”

Tj smiled a little bit. “No, you’re right. I’m just.. really worried about messing things up with Buffy again, and therefore messing things up with you again.”

Cyrus tilted his head. “That’ll take a lot more than a gift. Our friendship isn’t that fragile, I think, if we’ve gotten this far. And Buffy isn’t that quick to abandon a friend, either. You started off rocky, but honestly, I think it’s just given you guys more to bond over.” 

TJ abruptly pulled him into a hug. Cyrus did not come prepared to have a moment in the middle of a sporting goods store, but he softened and hugged back. Then, they pulled apart, and TJ said something about a cool water bottle or another. So, TJ picked something out, and they went to the cashier. TJ started to take money out of his pocket, but Cyrus stopped him. 

“I could pay for it,” he offered. He, dolly, felt like impressing TJ. 

“But.. it’s my present to Buffy.” 

“And it still will be, but otherwise, I’d have brought my money here for no reason.” 

TJ sighed. 

Cyrus heard Buffy’s voice in the back of his head whispering “ _ unbiased? _ ” 

He grinned.

Okay. So maybe he was a little bit biased.

He paid for the gift, and he was so stuck in his head that he almost didn’t hear it when TJ turned around and asked him, “Cookie?” He jerked his head at a cafe. 

Cyrus stared blankly, and took out his phone to check the time. They had at least a bit more time. Why not? “Cookie,” he said, and TJ started walking towards the cafe. He made a move to follow, but before doing that, he put a hand on his chest, and he could feel it beating, like he’d gotten off a rollercoaster.

Weird.

  
  


 


End file.
